Localisation of Function in the Brain

• :) RTS Broca

  > reported the case study of a man who lost the ability to speak, except for the word 'tan', but could understand language

  > post mortems showed damage in one area in the left hemisphere, which is now named Broca's area

  > shows that language production is localised to one specific brain area, as the theory predicts
• :( RTC patient EB

  > suffered from brain damage that resulted in the removal of his left hemisphere, and therefore his language centres

  > despite this, after some time he managed to regain some of his language ability - would not be possible if language centres were completely localised to the left hemisphere, so must be in more areas

  > suggests a holistic explanation of brain functioning is more appropriate
• :( Broca and Patient EB - lack population validity

  > may not be appropriate to generalise the findings to the typical population, as these are unique case studies where brain damage may have affected the way in which the brain functions e.g. some research has suggested that Broca's area is not solely located in the left hemisphere, but is found in the dominant cerebral hemisphere (the opposite to the dominant hand)

  > more research is needed before firm conclusions on the localisation of language areas are possible
• :( RTC Lashley

  > removed areas of the cortex in rats (between 10 and 50%) that were learning a maze - found that no area was more important than any other in terms of the rats' ability to learn the maze

  > the process of learning requires all areas of the cortex rather than one specific localised area of the brain

  > suggests a holistic approach may be more appropriate